Contents

Background

As a child, Kurenai met Asuma Sarutobi during the Academy entrance ceremony and graduated at age 9. She later was cheering for her classmates during the third round of the Chūnin Exams.[6] Eventually becoming a chūnin at age 13, Kurenai became a jōnin shortly before the start of the series.[7]

A young Kurenai protesting.

During the Nine-Tails' attack on Konoha, Kurenai, Kakashi, Asuma and Guy were amongst the young ninja that wanted to help in repelling the beast, but the group was barred from participating by the older shinobi, one of whom was her own father. Though she protested greatly about this, her father told her that this wasn't war but an internal village issue and as they were shinobi, their lives were brief and that she should live long enough to ensure that the next generation would come about that would inherit the Will of Fire.[8]

Because of Kurenai's natural talent for genjutsu, the Third Hokage tasked Kurenai with helping to train Yakumo Kurama, another talented genjutsu user who longed to be a ninja.[9] However, because Yakumo couldn't control her illusions and thus endangered those around her, Kurenai had to seal away her ninja abilities, preventing her from ever becoming a shinobi.[10]

Personality

Kurenai and her baby.

Kurenai is a caring and brave woman. She shows great care and concern towards her students and takes a vested interest in their growth, especially in regards to Hinata due to knowing full well how Hinata was viewed by her father. When Hinata tried to offer Naruto some medicine after his fight with Kiba, Kurenai convinced Naruto to take it because she knew of her student's infatuation with him.[11] Her personality is unyielding, honest, and simple. She is also portrayed as the "big sister type".

It has been heavily hinted that Kurenai was romantically involved with fellow jōnin Asuma Sarutobi. The two appeared together in most of their scenes, and the other characters made it a point to note this fact on several occasions. When Kakashi Hatake found the two together at a dumpling shop, he asked if they were on a date, which made Kurenai blush and made an excuse that she was running an errand only.[12] During Asuma's battle with Akatsuki members, Hidan and Kakuzu, Kurenai was often shown wondering about his progress, appearing anxious. When she learned of his death, she fell to her knees in disbelief, and later laid flowers on his grave during his funeral.[13] The truth of their relationship was made clear in Part II when Kurenai revealed that she is pregnant with Asuma's child.

Appearance

Kurenai has long, black, shoulder-length untamed hair, and very unique eyes that are red in colour, with an additional ring in them. She wears make-up consisting of red lipstick and purple eye shadow. Her regular outfit consists of a red mesh armour blouse with only the right sleeve visible. Over this is very broad material which resembles bandages with a pattern on it similar to those of rose thorns. Her hands and upper thighs are also wrapped in bandages and she wears the Konoha forehead protector and regular shinobi sandals.

In a flashback, it was shown that Kurenai used to wear the standard Konoha shinobi outfit with a flak jacket and a simple sleeveless red outfit underneath it.[14] During her pregnancy, she wore a long, loose fitting maternal dress with a simple blouse underneath and after giving birth she was seen in a simple kimono. As a genin, she wore a similar outfit to the one she wears currently with the signature thorn pattern on it with a simple sash around her waist.[6] These thorns were pink when she was a child, and red when she got older.[15]

Abilities

Genjutsu

The full extent of Kurenai's abilities are predominantly unknown. But, her skill with genjutsu is so vast that it is said to rival even those of Itachi Uchiha.[2] Most of her techniques focus around flora; primarily using large trees to bind opponents as well as flower petals for various reasons. She is also able to simultaneously affect multiple opponents with her techniques, as seen during her fight with Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha. Itachi, a genjutsu master himself, has also praised her skills.[16] Furthermore, she could revert the effects of genjutsu to the caster.

Other Skills

In the anime, it was shown that she is even able to enter the subconsciousness of a person to see their true nature. She was also seen using her hair to cover her entire body, allowing her to freely travel through objects by seemingly merging with them. She also seems to be very proficient at using fūinjutsu as seen when she used the Evil Sealing Method to seal Yakumo's kekkei genkai.

Stats

Part I

Chūnin Exam Arc

Kurenai and the other jōnin stop Neji from attacking Hinata again.

During the Chūnin Exams, Kurenai watched her pupils from the sidelines. After Shino's battle, she commented on how it suddenly became cold in the room, in reference to his rather merciless defeat of Zaku Abumi. During Kiba's fight with Naruto, she thought to herself that Naruto couldn't possibly beat Kiba, only to be surprised again and again as Naruto took everything Kiba threw at him and finally defeated her student. She bore Naruto no ill will after this and even acknowledged him as a strong opponent. During Hinata's fight with her cousin, Neji Hyūga, she remembered the terrible relationship Hinata had with her father. She also noted the stark contrast between the current Hinata, who refused to give up, and the former Hinata, who would give up easily. When Neji was sent into a blind rage and tried to kill Hinata, Kurenai helped stop him along with Kakashi, Guy and Hayate.

During the one month after the preliminaries, she was seen along with Kiba training Shino in preparation for the final rounds. At the finals she sat next to Asuma and was surprised when Naruto successfully called upon the Nine-Tails' chakra to pull off a victory over Neji. She also doubted that Shikamaru had a strategy to win over Temari, and although the former decided to quit, the skills he had shown during the match made Kurenai think that Shikamaru may have the qualities of a chūnin after all.

Invasion of Konoha Arc

After watching the final round matches a month later, Kurenai repelled the genjutsu that fell over the stadium and assisted with the village's defence against invading Suna and Oto ninja during the invasion of Konoha. She later attended the Third Hokage's funeral.

Search for Tsunade Arc

Kurenai and Asuma stop Kisame and Itachi.

Soon after Konoha proved successful in defending the village, Kurenai and Asuma discovered that the Akatsuki members, Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki, had infiltrated the village. The two pairs engaged each other in battle, and Kurenai was able to trap both men in her Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death technique. As she was about to land the deadly blow on Itachi from above, however, the Uchihaturned her genjutsu against her. Biting her lip, Kurenai was able to cancel the genjutsu in time to deflect Itachi's physical attack. As the battle takes to the water, Kisame's Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique is countered by one of Kakashi's own. When Kakashi attempted a covert attack on Itachi, Kurenai prepared to ambush him from behind but is stopped by Kakashi who forced Kurenai down to avoid the explosion.

Later when Itachi activated his Mangekyō Sharingan, Kurenai and Asuma kept their eyes shut on Kakashi's directives but the latter is affected by Itachi's Tsukuyomi. When Itachi later instructed Kisame to kill them because they knew too much about their organisation, Might Guy arrived and intercepted Kisame's attack. She is later tasked with taking Kakashi to the hospital while their opponents, not wanting to start a war, fled.

Mizuki Strikes Back Arc

In the anime, Asuma and Kurenai were dispatched by Fifth Hokage Tsunade to bring the criminal chūninMizuki in for questioning, regarding his suspected involvement with Orochimaru. The pair arrived at the Leaf Village Maximum Security Prison, only to be greeted by a swarm of released inmates, including the Legendary Stupid BrothersFūjin and Raijin. Outnumbered, the two were beaten into unconsciousness, and were quickly rushed to the Leaf Village hospital for medical treatment.

Kurama Clan Arc

Yakumo resurfaced several years after Kurenai had sealed away her kekkei genkai, which ultimately proved unsuccessful. After Yakumo created the illusion of the Academy being struck by lightning (something everyone believed to have actually happened), Kurenai took a temporary leave from Team 8 so that she could deal with the problem. Naruto confronted her about her involvement with Yakumo, but she simply used a genjutsu on him to keep him occupied.

As she approached Yakumo's cabin, Kurenai appeared to be trapped in a rebel's genjutsu. In actuality, she had attacked her attacker in a genjutsu. She discovered that these attackers were in fact Kurama clan members, who were intent on kidnapping Yakumo. From this point, she and the opposing ninja basically fought with nothing but pure genjutsu technique, such as the Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death and the String Bean Binding Illusion. Kurenai ended up successful until the final encounter, where she was caught and couldn't escape from his genjutsu, and so she took a kunai and stabbed herself in the shoulder to break out and used Genjutsu: Flower Petal Escape to trap him in her own genjutsu. But he saw the blood from her wound and managed to hit her with a shuriken.

Kurenai was saved by the arrival of her team, along with Naruto, Sakura, and Might Guy. Later, when explaining to Team 8 the reasons for her departure, she claimed that the village "doesn't need any genjutsu masters other than herself". This was her supposed reason for sealing Yakumo's abilities, but Shino recognised that she was lying. Yakumo, on the other hand, believed Kurenai did so in order to eventually wipe out the Kurama clan. She trapped her former sensei, Naruto, Sakura, and Team 8 in a genjutsu-created replica of the village which appeared to have been ravaged by war. Unkai was also in the illusion. Unkai, concerned by the powers Yakumo had, and her continually degrading mental state as a result of being unable to control them, freed Naruto from the illusion so that he could kill Yakumo. Everyone else was freed as well, except for Kurenai. Yakumo kept her trapped in the illusion in the hopes of getting revenge and answers about her past.

Naruto and the others headed back to the mountain villa and Naruto re-entered Yakumo's genjutsu world to help Kurenai. Yakumo learned that a monster named Ido that lived within her subconscious mind was the one who killed her parents. With Kurenai's help, she overcame the monster in her heart and freed Kurenai from her genjutsu. With her final mission from the Third Hokage completed, Kurenai reassigned herself as the jōnin leader of Team 8.

Part II

Hidan and Kakuzu Arc

At the hospital, before Asuma could speak with Kakashi, Kurenai arrived and the two had to leave, telling Kakashi that they would have to talk later. Later, as Asuma and his team from the Nijū Shōtai mobilised, he lingered staring at an apartment window before mobilising. Inside, it's revealed that it was Kurenai's apartment. She senses something, but when she turned to look out the window, Asuma and his team were already gone. Returning to watering the flowers that were given to her by Asuma, one of the petals falls off its stem, and she has a feeling of foreboding.

When Shikamaru returned from the mission, he was the one to break the grim news of Asuma. Kurenai stared on in shock and then collapsed to her knees devastated. During Asuma's funeral, Kurenai laid flowers on his grave. After Team Asuma avenged their sensei's death, Shikamaru found her at Asuma's grave in the cemetery. Kurenai asked him if he'd be lonely now that his shōgi partner was gone. Shikamaru stated Asuma taught him both important and stupid stuff, and that he had always brushed off responsibility and whined when he was young, because Asuma was there to protect him. Shikamaru noted that Asuma was the coolest adult he knew, and he told Kurenai, when she had her baby, it would be his turn to become a cool adult too, and protect that child.

Invasion of Pain Arc

To help Naruto cope with Jiraiya's death, Shikamaru took him to the hospital where Kurenai was just leaving and explained her pregnancy to Naruto (because Naruto believed she had gotten fat). Kurenai insisted to Shikamaru that he did not need to check on her every time she went to the hospital, but Shikamaru said he couldn't help it as Asuma told him to watch over her and the child.

Shikamaru protects Kurenai.

In the anime, during Pain's invasion of Konoha, as Kurenai wondered what was happening, Shikamaru then came to ensure her safety. One of Pain's summon, a Giant Centipede, appeared. Shikamaru told her to move back while he took care of the summon, killing it with his shadow. He then told her of how he couldn't face Asuma if something happened to her and the baby and advised her to go to the evacuation centre through the underground passage. She was then seen going to the evacuation centre falling in line with many other people.

Trivia

Kurenai's red lipstick is, in a way, a pun on her own name. The kanji for "Kurenai" can also be read as "beni", which is a word used for red make-up used traditionally in Japan to colour the lips red.

In her first appearance her dress is red with white sleeves but every time she is seen after that it's the opposite.

In later episodes of Part II, she is usually seen with a ring on her left ring finger. It is unclear if this is a wedding ring, an engagement ring, or something else. The ring was first seen while Kurenai was worried about Asuma during his battle with Hidan. After Kurenai is revealed to be pregnant, she is always seen wearing the ring. The ring first appears in the manga after the reveal of her pregnancy.

During a question and answer session held at Tokyo's Jump Fest '09, Masashi Kishimoto stated that he was thinking of making Kurenai and Asuma's child a girl.

Quotes

(To Hiashi) "I will be watching over Hinata from now on… but are you sure it's all right? Hinata is a member of the Hyūga main family… working as genin may cause her to be surrounded by death."[14]

(About Hinata) "Hinata… You used to be a quitter… But you began to try and change yourself. I know better than anyone, the tough training you put yourself through. But you'd always fail on missions, you were weak when it mattered most and quickly lost confidence. But today you're different… That child… I have never… seen her with eyes like that…"[17]

(About Hinata) "Hinata, that's enough… You may have lost but you have changed… Good job…"[18]

(To Shikamaru) "You lost your shōgi partner… you were Asuma's favourite. You must miss him too."[19]